Flowerscapes

July 24, 2023 by Donna from One Beautiful Thing 9 Comments

In the years before I began this blog you asked me whether ‘botanical artist’ was a real occupation, I would likely have made a joke about the lilies of the field who neither toil nor spin. (Biblical reference, FYI). This blog, however, has taught me that the term ‘artist’ cannot be limited to just those arts with which we are familiar. Artists’ materials are as varied as the artists are themselves. Today’s featured artist is just one of those free spirits.

This is the botanical art by Virginia-based maker Karly Murphy, and they’re giving me the perfect summer vibes I was craving today. Nature makes some fantastic art of its own, but I really love Murphy’s art, whether she’s isolating or combining plants and flowers and arranging them in the best possible way.

“Kmpressed began years ago when one 20-something Virginia woman tucked a few garden-grown cosmos into a book, piled other books on top, and forgot about them until a cold winter’s day. Opening the pages to rediscover those pressed blooms, still pinkish purple and beautiful, flipped a switch. Later that year, she looked up how to build a flower press and with a few scrap pieces of wood and the help of her husband, the little business was born. Karly Murphy, flower fanatic, amateur gardener, botanical artist, wife and mother, has now been pressing flowers for over five years. After officially opening up shop on Etsy in 2016, offering pressed garden flowers and ferns inside glass coasters and as paper artworks, her work grew to incorporate wedding bouquet pressings, glass wall hangings and tabletop artwork in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, printed artworks and greeting cards joined the lineup, which became “perennial” offerings (please excuse the plant pun) while the batches of glass originals still tend to sell out quickly.”
– About KM Pressed

Murphy’s art can be purchased in the original glass-pressed version or in the more budget-friendly printed versions (including greeting cards!), and I find them both lovely.

You can follow the lovely Karly Murphy on the KMPressed website and on Instagram and her Etsy shop.